Groomers Guide

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Friend or Foe? Fragrances From a Dog's Perspective
Close-up of a small light brown dog covering its snout with a front paw against a white background.
by Jennifer Bishop Jenkins
An important part of being alive is the experiences of our senses: sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Most mammals share these same senses but in varied ways. For dogs, they live by their noses.

Dogs can track microscopically small molecules of odor, a skill that has served us for centuries by helping us to hunt for food to survive. As hunting has declined in popularity in recent decades, however, many dogs are now being used for their incredible scent-detector skills in law enforcement jobs instead, such as tracking missing persons or detecting drugs.

A published study in Canine Olfaction done in Warsaw, Poland, summarizes it thusly: “Dogs have an extraordinary olfactory capability, which far exceeds that of humans. Dogs’ sense of smell seems to be the main sense, allowing them to not only gather both current and historical information about their surrounding environment, but also to find the source of the smell, which is crucial for locating food, danger, or partners for reproduction.
“We all want our dogs to smell fresh, but many pet grooming products—shampoos, sprays, wipes, and even toys—contain synthetic fragrances that could be harming your dog more than helping.”
“Dogs can be trained by humans to use their olfactory abilities in a variety of fields, with a detection limit often much lower than that of sophisticated laboratory instruments. The specific anatomical and physiological features of dog olfaction allow humans to achieve outstanding results in the detection of drugs, explosives, and different illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, or infectious disease.”1

Florida State University Professor James Walker, DVM, mapped canine olfactory glands of various breeds of dogs. In his extensive work, he tracked in dogs’ noses their ability to detect molecular detail 100,000 times more than humans at the low end, and, depending on the breed of dog, up to a million times more than humans. That high-end data came from, not surprisingly, the Bloodhound.2

We humans only have a handful of olfactory receptors compared to the hundreds of millions of receptors that dogs have. This raises questions about how dogs experience fragrance in grooming products and throughout the grooming experience.

In her book The Other End of the Leash, veterinarian and author Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., writes about how dogs experience the things that we do, from their perspective, based on the science we know about dogs. She likens applying fragrances, detectable and pleasant to humans, to the equivalent of dropping an atom bomb on a dog.3

This is why sometimes the application of a fragrance designed to be pleasant to us humans can cause dogs to run out, at their first moment of opportunity, find a pile of poop or a dead animal carcass, and roll themselves in it to get rid of the fragrance “bomb.”

In one article on “The Nourished Pup” substack, the author writes: “We all want our dogs to smell fresh, but many pet grooming products—shampoos, sprays, wipes, and even toys—contain synthetic fragrances that could be harming your dog more than helping. While they might smell nice to us, these artificial scents often contain hidden chemicals that can trigger allergies, respiratory issues, and skin irritation in dogs.”4

Fragrances are added to products generally for the human customers’ experience, not for dogs. Thankfully, many companies now make fragrance-free and hypoallergenic shampoos and conditioners for groomers to use. And there has been significant progress in the industry to keep smells in their products safer and more natural.

The American Kennel Club website says, “While artificial fragrances should be avoided in dog shampoos, there are safe scented dog shampoos that can leave your dog smelling fresh and clean after their bath . . . Look for natural scents like kiwi or coconut . . . Some plant-derived dog shampoos smell fresh and clean because of the ingredients. Oatmeal in dog shampoo is a common ingredient for sensitive skin. Dog shampoos for sensitive skin will often have a lingering, yummy oatmeal smell as a result.”5

So the next time you pick out a scent for a shampoo, finishing spray or cologne for your salon, remember to put the pets first. Companies often market to our noses, not the dogs. And whatever we are smelling, they are far more sensitive to it.

References:
  1. Kokocińska-Kusiak, A., Woszczyło, M., Zybala, M., et al. (2021). Canine Olfaction: Physiology, Behavior, and Possibilities for Practical Applications. Animals: an open access journal from MDPI, 11(8), 2463. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082463
  2. Walker, J., Walker, D., Cavnar, P., et al. (2006). Naturalistic quantification of canine olfactory sensitivity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248335765_Naturalistic_quantification_of_canine_olfactory_sensitivity
  3. McConnell, P. (2002). The Other End of the Leash. Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/the-other-end-of-the-leash/
  4. The Nourished Pup. (2026). The Truth About Fragrances in Pet Products: Are They Safe for Your Dog? The Nourished Pup. https://thenourishedpup.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-fragrances-in-pet-da0
  5. AKC Staff. (2024). Finding the Right Shampoo for Your Dog. American Kennel Club. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/dog-shampoos/
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